First Impressions
by S m a l l S c r i b b l e s
Summary: AU. Non-massacre. ItaSaku. Sakura's never experienced any danger that her fists couldn't handle, but what happens when Itachi Uchiha begins to get dangerously close. "What the hell! Out of all the possible ANBU Captains, I had to get the hot one."
1. Chapter 1: Scary

Category: Anime

Series: Naruto

Pairing: ItaSaku 3

Rating: Mature (Just to be on the safe side)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, music, or series used to inspire this work.

**A/N: **So it's been a long time since I've written a fanfic; however, I was so tempted to right one lately and finally planned out a plot.

**Fanfic Spotlight: **If you like this story. Go read Code Hanami by pyxislynx. The first chapter of the story inpired me to write this one. I spoke with ehr and borrowed her perfect set up to begin my story. Credit for my first chapter goes to her. But seriously go read it. LoL!

**First things first: **I'm going to be completely honest. I have not read or watched any Naruto manga or anime in forever. If my characters are OOC, I apoligize. I have read fanfics where I like how they portray certain characters personalities.

**Second things... well, second: **This is an AU Non-Massacre fic. Itachi is very much apart of the thriving Uchiha clan. Which mean Sasuke never left on his quest for power.

**Third: **Enjoy. Please read and review. I will have the next chapter up tomorrow. It is slow to start just to set up their meeting. The next chapter will be saucy I promise. ;)

"Shit!"

Her pink hair was singed. Kunai scraps and scratches all over her porclein skin. She was currently experiencing that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Kami must have thought she had sinnned, for she was currently being pursued by none other than Itachi Uchiha.

Just a week ago, Sakura Haruno thought it was wise to sign up for the ANBU exams. She was the head medic of the Konaha Hospital and could pack a punch like none other, excluding her shishou of course. Sakura's taijutsu was quick and efficent, however her offensive ninjutsu was lacking. Being a medic nin did not give her much of an opportunity to use genjutsu, but Kakashi assured her she had an affinity for it.

Sakura really hoped Kakashi was right about that statement. She had the ultimate genjutsu user attacking her during the final part of her ANBU exams.

"It just had to be the freaking Uchiha clan protege with emotions like a rock testing my capabilities." Sakura thought as she dodged a fire jutsu that lite up the dark forest. If she could just get away from him she could stand a chance. The fire surrounded her with no chance of escape.

Sakura hurt all over. The pain was insufferable. She was the top medic for crying out loud, why wasn't her body healing properly?

"Wait a minute..." Sakura stopped her racing thoughts to think calmly, "I should be able to heal myself. I'm sending chakra to all the right places, unless I'm not actually hurt... that sneaky bastard! Why didn't I see it before! Kai!"

Sakura produced the hand signs to release a genjutsu with sucess as the heated fire surrounding her vanished and her injuries disappeared. It was all in her head.

Sakura's petie form looked up to see red eyes glowing in the night narrowing slowly.

They had been fighting, her and Itachi Uchiha. The final part of her ANBU exam required her to take a scroll from a designated ANBU officer. The examinees were to track and locate the active officer and then by all means obtain the scroll carried on the person. You get one day to get the scroll back to the hokage. You do that and you pass. Sakura needed to pass, in order to stay with Naruto and Sasuke.

A fire ignited inside her at the thought of her teammates. She would not let them down.

"They probably already have their scrolls," She thought; however, she did not know since she had not seen them since the exam began two days before. "Then again they aren't avoiding getting killed by Itachi Uchiha."

He produced a water jutsu. A giant wave was being sent to crash over her body. So Sakura did the first thing that came to mind... she ran.

She high tailed it out of there so fast, but before you call her a coward, she couldn't fight. She had gone two days without proper nourishment or rest. But she had his scroll. The one needed to pass. She could do it. She just had to get as far away from him as possible in order to get to the hokage. Getting in a fight with the Itachi Uchiha was not wise.

She ran into the civilian marketplace hoping he would relent since innocent lives shouldn't be spared, but this just proved Naruto and Sakura's theory that Sasuke's brother was a killing robot created by the elders who forgot to add an on and off switch. Seeing as he was on her heels about to produce yet another fire jutsu.

"Is he an idiot? He's going to seriously hurt someone!"

Then she quickly turned into an ally between two tall buildings. She was so close to the hokage tower. She needed to shake him, but could not risk hurting civilians. She doubted she would pass if any one except Itachi was slightly harmed anyways.

The obvious cold stare in his eyes made Sakura shiver as he approached her, blocking her only way out. She had to do this. She had to fight him.

Sakura began flinging all the wepons on her person at it. Flinging well aimed kunai, after kunai as he stalked her like prey moving deeper into the dark alley as she unconciously moved backwards until her back hit a wall. This was it.

She was between a rock and a hard place. Literally. Hard place equals brick wall against her back and rock equals Itachi Uchiha since he had the emotional range of a rock, which was saying alot. Sakura almost let out a bark of laughter at the thought, but Sakura was shocked out of her inner musings when she saw a swirl or red and black.

He captured her in a strong genjutsu using the sharingan. The buildings of the wall disappated as she stood in an empty field with dead burned grass surrounding her eyesight for miles. The yellow color burnt her eyes and all she could see was Itachi Uchiha's outline as he drew out his sword and plunged it into her stomach.

She wanted to scream. She fell to the ground and tears began to fall.

She heard him speak for the first time all day, "This is my world Haruno-San and you are my prisoner. Give up the scroll and you will be released."

Sakura was overwhelmed with emotions she was able to always boggle down during missions. She never allowed herself to feel this scared and intimidated. It was the genjutsu's doing. The pinkette took deep calming breaths reminding herself that this was all in her head.

She could not give up the scroll no matter what. She needed to protect her precious people, like Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sai, Yamato, Shishou, The Rookie Nine, her village for pete's sake. Most importantly she needed to do this for herself. To prove to herself that she was not some weak girl that Naruto and Sasuke always have to protect. She wants to prove herself to everyone. That just because she has pink hair, doesn't mean she should be taken lightly. That was the final straw the first person she woud prove that too was Itachi Uchiha.

Like Kakashi taught her, "A ninja must see underneath the underneath."

Maybe the genjutsu was making Sakura go mad, but she didn't care. As the Uchiha slowly withdrew the blade from her body he prepared it to pierce her again. This time she shakily stood up and did something her inner would have been proud of, "You ass! Get the hell out of my head! If you think you can emotionally scare me and send me running with my tail between my legs you got another thing coming!"

Sakura did the hand sign to release the genjutsu and yelled, "Kai!"

Nothing happened. Sakura was still in the dead yellow grass world with Itachi Uchiha still standing as if the illusion was a reality. She saw his eyes flash with what looked like amusement while she began to make a primal noise similar to a growl. It erupted from her body before she takled him and summound all the chakra she could to send this guy flying across the grass as far as possible.

She did it! She landed a hit on his left sholder. As he went flying away from her from the impact of the punch, she was sent flying backward. It seemed as if time and space was flying by in a blur of color and light.

Until finally she was back in the ally way standing with a fallen Uchiha. Sakura glanced at him as she ran up the wall to the top of the building and could have sworn his eyes flashed dangerously. She, Sakura Haruno escaped the sharingan's grasp. She did not have time to muse about this as he quickly regained his composer and continued to chase after her.

"Congratulations Sakura. Welcome to ANBU." Tsudade said as she looked up from the scroll Sakura was able to deliver. Sakura was tickled pink.

It was a game of cat and mouse all the way from the alley to the Hokage tower. That being Itachi was the cat and she was unfortunately the mouse. Some how she managed to make it... Just barely. She definitely needed to make sure she apologized to the chunnin she ran over during her mad dash to Tsunade's office.

"If my services are no longer needed Hokage-sama, I will take my leave."

Sakura shivered. She forgot Itachi Uchiha was standing behind her. She refused to acknowledge him as he left. She could not believe she had beaten him.

Being teammates with the stoic younger Uchiha made her realize that Itachi Uchiha was angry. Once he reached Tsunade's office just a second after her, he approached the Hokage as she asked him if the scroll was indeed his.

His curt response was normal, but the slight narrowing of his eyes and the tightening of his lips made Sakura vow that she would avoid the Uchiha for basically the rest of her life. The ass used his sharingan on her! And will probably be out for her blood at this point.

"Yes that will be fine. If you have any injuries, Shizune is in room 423 and will gladly heal you." Tsunade relied. The quiet Uchiha nodded and left the room. Once the door was shut, Tsunade's grin consumed her face. "So you got out of the sharingan huh?"

"How did you-" Sakura began to ask.

"Obviously I have ANBU tailing your every move in order to judge whether the examinee has skills or dumb luck. Genma was quite impressed that you were able to get out of Uchiha's genjutsus, but from the information based on your fight with Ino Yamanaka during the chunnin exams I don't see this as much of a shock. You're good at keeping a level head in crisis situations. Exactly why you make a great medic." Tsunade stated between sips of sake.

"Gee thanks shishou, but how're Naruto and Sasuke? Did they finish already?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Why don't oh go ask them yourself what happened. Naruto kept showing up to check up on your progress and I heard him screaming about getting ramen with Sasuke about a half hour ago."

Sakura was about to reply when Shizune entered the room and hurriedly explained to the Hokage that she was needed for a meeting with the elders.

"Damn blue hairs need me again?" Tsunade swore loudly and was off with a brisk farewell.

Sakura thought even though she was ANBU now, "Some things never change."

"WHAT? SAKURA IS GOING TO BE ANBU WITHOUT US?"

Sakura was rubbing her temples while Naruto was having a fit. She managed to track down Naruto and Sasuke; however, she was shock to find out they did not pass the exam. Apparently Naruto failed the written portion, then during the scroll track down they began fighting each other instead of their designated ANBU officer.

"So you beat my brother?" Sasuke asked her as he ignored Naruto's outbursts in the background that sounded a lot like, "Sakura-chan! You can't leave us!"

"Just freaking barely. You're brother's crazy Sasuke. He was so determined to stop me that he used the sharingan on me! Hello! Someone needs to tell him we are from the same village."

Sasuke's eyes flashed with shock as Sakura revealed such information. "Then how did you beat him?"

Naruto was getting mad in the background as he began swearing that he would one day destroy the killing robot. Well, that or make an off switch so the guy could be some what human and civilized.

"Well I just got pissed and reminded myself it was all in my head. Telling my self it wasn't real allowed me to break the illusion and might have also given me a head start to the Hokage Tower." Sakura responded the last part sheepishly.

Naruto was staring at Sakura in awe as Sasuke claimed it was impossible.

"It was possible and it happened, Sasuke." Sakura was glaring at the younger Uchiha seeing as he didn't believe she could break down something as precious as his damn clan's kekai genkai.

Sasuke "hn"-ed in response. Sakura sighed and Naruto spontaneously claimed he was walking Sakura home. Sasuke paid for their ramen and began walking with his two team mates.

_Dear Sakura Haruno,_

_We are pleased to in from you that you have passed the ANBU examination process. You still have much to learn as a skilled shinobi and we, the Village Elders, have added you to a team where your abilities will surely balance out the rest of it's members. You have been placed on Team 5 including..._

_Monkey: Genma Shiranui_

_Dragon: Shisui Uchiha_

"Great two ladies men on the same team? What were they thinking there." Sakura thought then she moved her eyes down the page to read the last name.

_Weasel (Captain): Itachi Uchiha_

"No fucking way! I'm with him? Shit. It's all over now." Sakura said out loud. She had just gotten into her apartment after Naruto and Sasuke walked her home. She found the ANBU uniform with the mask of a lion along with the letter.

Itachi Uchiha was famous for being the youngest person to ever join ANBU and has been a captain since. He is known as a ruthless hard ass when it comes to missions, but Sakura couldn't help but admire how he always manages to get his missions done quickly and efficiently.

Sakura now feeling overwhelmed looked down to read the rest of the letter as fast as possible figuring it couldn't get any worse.

_Since you are not yet accustomed to the ANBU way of life or your teammates fighting techniques. You will have regular sparring sessions with each member before you begin missions with your new team._

_You will have the opportunity to meet and negotiate a schedule for the sessions at the welcoming party tomorrow night at 8:00 PM. Don't forget-_

Sakura stopped reading the rest of the letter as she realized she would have to fight the Uchiha again soon. She was positive he would be out for revenge.

**A/N: **Read and Review. Next Chapter should be out tomorrow. I'm so sorry this first chapter was so slow! I'll make the next chapter saucy. ;)


	2. Chapter 2: Hot

**Category: **Anime

**Series: **Naruto

**Title: **First Impressions

**Pairing: **ItaSaku

**Rating: **Mature (Just to be on the safe side)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters, music, or series used to inspire this work.

**A/N: **Hey so some good news... new chapter! And some not so good news... I'm leaving for vacation on Saturday and won't be back for about a week so no updates until I get back. If I decide to bring my laptop with me I will try to type up some chapters in the mean time, but they won't get uploaded till I get back. Until then enjoy this chapter.

**Fanfic Spotlight: **If you like this story. Go read Code Hanami by pyxislynx. The first chapter of the story inpired me to write this one. I spoke with ehr and borrowed her perfect set up to begin my story. Credit for my first chapter goes to her. But seriously go read it. LoL!

oooooooooo

Chapter Two: Hot Prick

He is hot.

Sakura was walking to a large table where her new ANBU team sat. She currently had her jaw on the floor because of the sight in front of her.

"Pick your jaw up off the damn floor Sakura!" Sakura's inner was yelling at her to stop looking like such a fool, but she wasn't paying attention to her right now. Sakura couldn't stop looking at her new Captain dressed in a dark suit.

Well, damn. She had expected the formal clothing. It was no big deal ... on Shisui and Genma. For some bizarre reason their attire didn't make her stare like a fool.

"I call walking Sakura home tonight." Shisui said with a wink, while he and Genma started cat calling. Itachi silenced them with a quick glance.

"Come on baby cousin, don't tell me you honestly think that dress doesn't look good on our new teammate?" Shisui wagged his eye brows suggestively at Itachi.

"Great first impression." Her inner chided. Sakura automatically felt embarrassed. She was nineteen now and had a killer body or at least that's what her friend Ino and the psychopathic S-Class criminals who she was forced to seduce during missions told her. The pinkette recalled her blonde friend throwing the little black dress at her and threatening to set her up on another blind date if she didn't wear it.

"That is not what we are here to discuss." Itachi coolly stated. "We must work out a schedule. Haruno, sit."

Sakura snapped her jaw shut in that instant. "Ouch hot guy is a prick." Sakura let the thought cross her mind before sitting her self at the table. She did not appreciate her new Captain barking orders at her like some dog, but she figured it would be more intelligent to obey now and test the boundaries later.

"I apologize for my baby cousin, his sperm count is extremely low, so he sometimes says things like that because he really-"

"You will first spar Genma, second Shisui, and lastly myself. This cannot take take weeks to complete because we will need a fourth member to complete our team as soon as possible. I expect nothing less than diligence and effort." Shusui's teasing comment was cut off by Itachi as he explained to Sakura the expectations.

Sakura nodded assertively with a flash of determination in her eyes. She was definitely going to do this right. Then maybe her pompous, emotionless, commanding, hot, delicious, err, Captain would treat her with a little more respect. She was by far a very hard worker. She has memorized volumes and volumes of medical information alone. Which is not including her knowledge on various types of fighting techniques and weapons. She would show him.

For now she just had to focus on not giving Shisui or Genma the chance to walk her home.

oooooooooo

"I can always kiss it and make it feel better."

"Cute, but stay the hell away from me."

"You're as feisty as a little lion cub."

"I hope you swallow that senbon."

Sakua's sparring sessions with Genma had began. They had been practicing all morning and half way through the afternoon. She was gaining knowledge about his weapon fighting style. His favorite move was clearly deflecting weapons with that damn senbon in his mouth. He would spit it out and use it as a projectile to deflect all the weapons she furiously threw at him.

"Let's take a break, come on late lunch. My treat. It's a date." Genma said with a lazy smile.

"I'm not stopping until I win one spar dammit!" Sakura was currently healing up some of her deep scrapes and scratches inflicted by the carefree nin in front of her. The sparring was not only to accustom herself with her new teammates, but with the faster pace. The incredibly faster pace that is.

"Suit yourself." He said as he laid down in the grass.

"Genma... You better get up."

"And what exactly are you going to do if I don't?"

Sakura smirked. She taught Naruto and Sasuke well, there was no reason why she couldn't teach Genma why he should listen to her.

The minute Genma felt her surge of chakra and the loud rumbling of the ground, he knew he definitely wouldn't be getting his lunch date anytime soon.

"I can do this. I can do this!" The four word phrase became Sakura's catch phrase as she pushed and pushed to stay focused and not think about the pain in her stressed muscles and the ripped surface of her skin. Genma was nice enough to stop at times to ask if she needed a break, but she refused. She wanted to land the one hit. She needed to do this, to prove that she was capable.

Sakura threw her body forward as she threw kunais with exploding tags at her target, with her aiming entirely off as he propelled a shuriken to deflect each one causing smoke to rise in dark puffs from the now sizzling grass.

Now was her chance. With the cover of confusion she charged him with a swift kick that he easily blocked with his arm. She sent a punch to the face that was deflected with a kunai.

Sweat poured down Sakura's ivory face, stinging her determined green eyes. She was so close now, he could not use weapons in such a close range any longer. Strictly taijutsu which was what she was best at.

The pink haired kunoichi summoned all of the chakra she could muster to her fist as she lunged at him.

"Sorry, way to predictable Sakura." Genma stated as he jumped back. A slight scuffle was heard, but as the smoke cleared from the earlier exploding tags Genma was caught with a kunai against his throat that a clone Sakura was holding.

"Wait, what was that Genma? Oh you know that thing you said about being way to predictable?" Sakura smirked in victory. She let her clone disappear with a "pop" and began to look him over for any pulled muscles or injuries.

She summoned the clone with the cover of the smoke and controlled the chakra exerted from the clone, so Genma would fall into her trap. Her chakra enhanced punches were definitely predictable and it worked as the perfect distraction.

"You're absolutely right. That was not predictable at all. You distracting me with your good looks was certainly not expected, but very welcome." Genma slyly stated.

"GENMA!" Sakura yelled and began chasing him around the training ground with a fist full of chakra as his exuberant laughter bounced all around her.

ooooooooooooo

"So how the hell did you beat Itachi?"

Sakura and Genma were sitting in a diner located near the training fields ordering dinner. He refused to let Sakura go home yet, because he missed lunch and didn't have anytime to track a lady down for dinner, that she would do for tonight. Sakura was about to punch him again, until he burst out laughing and claimed he was just kidding and really wanted to catch up with her.

Sakura lowered her fist, but of course she wrote herself a mental note to teach her new team to not antagonize her so. It was like training cats, you spray them with water when they do something wrong. Same idea, except instead of spraying water on her teammates, she would simply send a well aimed punch at their face and eventually they would learn.

The idea of spraying Itachi with a bottle filled with water made her chuckle while she looked through the menu; however, when she really thought about it she couldn't exactly picture herself punching him in the face either.

"Seriously how the hell did you get through the exam?" Genma asked again after they placed their orders.

"Two words. Dumb luck. I swear some force from above really wanted me to achieve this or I managed to catch him on an off day." Sakura explained.

"Give yourself more credit than that, Sakura. I remember watching you at the chunnin exams years ago. You got a fighting spirit that's hard to shatter. It's evident that you have maintained that energy over the years and utilize it to turn a situation around. Just like what you showed today at the end of our lesson."

"This is why I loved Genma. Flirting is his way to start a conversation, but once you got passed that he was a sincere guy." Sakura thought momentarily. "I never knew him before the chunnin exams and never intended to know him better. He hung around Kakashi quite a bit and ended up in the hospital for three weeks one time because of a broken arm and leg. So we got to bond quite a bit over that time."

That's why she puts up with his ridiculously flirty personality.

"I'm serious. Listen. I aced the written examination, but once the proctor handed me a scroll explaining the last part of the exam. I thought it would be difficult. Extremely difficult, I mean come one, track down an ANBU Captain and take their personal scroll? Once I read that I had to win the scroll over from Itachi Uchiha. I figured there was absolutely no point it trying, because I figured the easiest way to get the scroll would be genjutsu. But, you can't really rely on an Uchiha not sniffing out a genjutsu, so, well, I kind of..."

Genma interrupted her tale to start snorting with laughter. "I repeat, how the hell did you beat Itachi?"

"I snuck into the compound."

"Why not just show up and say you're their to see Sasuke?"

"Because Itachi knew I was after his scroll and what if Sasuke wasn't there? I thought he was still completing his exam. So I snuck in."

"Let me guess the rest... You got in, ran into his room, smothered him with a pillow, and ran the hell out of there."

Sakura threw a glare at Genma before retorting. "Basically, except I did not smother him with a pillow! I attacked when he least expected it. He was sparring with his father outside and I saw the scroll sitting in the grass with water bottles and such-"

"You did not... Really Sakura? You thought it would be that easy?"

"My heart was pounding out of my god damn chest from the adrenaline! I wasn't thinking clearly. How was I supposed to know he had set up traps around it!"

Oh yes, Itachi Uchiha was not to be underestimated. He set up a wonderful trap, that she fell for unfortunately causing her to be thrown into the air as a net surrounded her whole body. She quickly preformed the hand seals to create a medical scalpel, and cut herself free. At that point both Uchiha men were throwing fireballs at her. She grabbed the scroll and began to run. It wasn't unit she managed to make it out of the Uchiha compound that she felt his chakra signature consuming her like the smoke from a fire.

Genma laughed outright at the mental image of Sakura falling for a trap and attempting to out run his ANBU Captain.

"The ass caught up with me and used the sharingan on me at one point, but I managed to escape and run like a bat out of hell."

The man across the table sobered quickly at that statement. "You broke the illusion?"

'Yeah, I just- you know, realized the guy was a dick using his kekai genkai on me and shoved him out of my mind."

Genma just stared. "It all makes sense now... He's pissed at you!"

"Excuse me?" Sakura choked on her tea as she took a sip, almost spitting it out on her new comrade.

"Well, maybe not exactly like that, but I think he's just shocked that you could burst his world like a bubble. He doesn't like being out of control. You put him in such a situation and it made him mad." The weapon nin stated matter of factually.

"Damn male pride. I'm not going to be afraid of him just because I did what I had to do to pass!" Sakura stubbornly said.

"Make sure you remember that during your training time with him."

"Shut up."

Sakura thought about it and refused to let him get to her. She would show him that even though the pink hair was deceiving she was a strong underneath, the underneath.

ooooooooooooooo

**A/N: **Tada! There's chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it. Please keep reading and reviewing.

**Just To Clear The Air: **This is not by any means a GenSaku fanfic. They are just good friends. I repeat. Just. Good. Friends. Same goes with Shisui. He's going to become a good friend with Sakura as well.

**Apology: **I'm sorry there is not much Itachi let alone ItaSaku action. This chapter was mainly to build Genma's relationship and recap how she got through the exam. Next chapter will be about Sakura and Shisui's growing relationship (AS JUST FRIENDS). I'll give you guys a splash of Itachi and his thoughts next chapter, but you won't really see him interact with Sakura a lot until chapter four. That's the way it works out best. Promise.

**BTW: **I love you guys and appreciate the number of reviews and helpful hints I have received all ready. I apologize for any grammar confusion or spelling mistakes. I do the best I can to re-read my chapters a million and one times before publishing. However, I am human.


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